In messaging systems, messages are deposited by users of the system for later delivery to subscribers of the messaging service. Example messaging systems include data messaging systems and voice messaging systems.
Messaging systems currently known in the art lack a mechanism for alerting users, such as private parties or surveillance users, of the system when a message has been retrieved. As a result, when a user is interested in the receipt of a message, or of multiple messages, the user is left wondering not only what, if any, messages have been retrieved, but also at what time they were retrieved. Further, existing messaging systems provide no real-time indication to users that a subscriber has actually retrieved a deposited message.
In prior art systems, a surveillance user, usually a law enforcement agency, obtains a message box which receives duplicate messages of the parties under surveillance. Whenever the party under surveillance receives a message, the duplicate message box assigned to the surveillance user also receives the message. It is important that the surveillance user receive an indication of which message residing in the subscriber's message box has been retrieved, although this is not provided in prior art systems.
What is needed is a method and apparatus for alerting a user in real-time that a subscriber has retrieved a message, where the alert includes information as to which message has been retrieved and at what time it was retrieved.